Tuesday, 30 June 2009

With no longer being able to schedule on this blog I don't know whether I'm doing Tuesday's second blog or an early Wednesday blog.... Very confusing.

I booked the ferry yesterday for Partner-who-loves-tea to come and join me on the Island on 20th July. She will then drive me home after we get the ferry back to the mainland on 27th July. I cannot believe I've been away from home since 1st May and yet 27th July seems awfully near when I realise it will mean returning to the real world of day-to-day worries. If only we could treat the whole of life in the stress-free way we treat holidays (if we are lucky as I have been).

I had a lovely walk this morning, stating at 7 a.m.. I went down the croft and onto the headland. From there I went over to the next headland - where I cannot recall ever having been before. Then it was up to the cairn and down to the loch. I stayed at the loch for while taking photos (and swatting horseflies as a secondary pastime). Then I walked into Lower Bayble and down the road to Eagleton and 'home' to GB's. GB is on the mainland and he seemed a bit concerned about me wandering off the beaten track where there may be no mobile signal. The ground is rather treacherous because there are old peat workings which get filled in by bog and plant life and a thigh length ducking or a broken ankle is always possible. So this morning I put a 'latest news' on my blog with a photo. That way - if anything did happen to me folk would know which direction to search in. The latest news could be done as a Twitter if I could remember how to tweet - must check it out. I know Heather was using it at one stage so if I get stuck it may be back to the fount of blogging knowledge. On the other hand I may just keep on doing it the way I have started. Oh Heavens, I'm rambling again - it's bad enough when you talk to yourself but when you do it publicly there's a danger they'll lock you away...

Any way here are a few photos from today's ramble.

The weather was warm and muggy with the sun breaking through the misty clouds on occasions. By the time the walk was over the sun had become a fixture for the day.

Last night I switched off the laptop at the mains as a way of encouraging myself to get to bed. Once the battery ran out I couldn't carry on. could I? Don't you believe it - I was blogging in my head whilst lying in bed at least an hour and a half later. I woke up, got up and started blogging. Now I'm typing with one hand while eating breakfast with the other. That's it. If there was any doubt before let there be none now - I AM ADDICTED. I think I'll set up a clinic for folk like me to dry out. All mod cons, great meals, spa, massages, pool, no need to go to the gym - but no broadband. Imagine it. Aaaaarrgh! My friend Pat and her daughter Kate have been sent to a virtual clinic by BT for the last few weeks. BT have managed to tell them a different story every day as to why their broadband isn't working and to promise them 'today's the day' they'll get it back. I'd ask you all to sympathise but there wouldn't be much point - they can't read your comments until the crisis is over!

But back to the subject of the clinic. Has anyone got a couple of million pounds (dollars will do) to help me set it up. Partner-who-loves-tea is a well qualified and very experienced psychotherapist so we could have our own in-house therapy sessions at a reasonable fee.

Fortunately I have only had one day of Broadband trouble here at GB's (am I tempting fate by saying that?) but I am having problems reading certain blogs. I have to alternate between Google Chrome to read Saz's and Fhina's Blogs and Internet Explorer to read certain others. Chrome loads my blog more speedily but, ironically, won't show me my comment moderation pages properly. I have to switch back to Internet Explorer for that...

At this precise moment I am delighted - I'm up-to-date in reading the blogs of my family and friends. That won't last long but I reckon the USA hasn't woken up yet and there's only a few folk this side of the pond daft enough to be up with the sunrise like me. (I bet one of my NZ or Australian blogger friends now posts just to keep me on my toes.)

Monday, 29 June 2009

I couldn't decide how to sort out a blog of photos for you today so I settled for picking a few from last week at random. No doubt they will appear in a more organised form on my Hebridean Blog at some stage.

When I'm not out walking I've been playing with photos. I am preparing to join Heather's Soaring Through the World in Pictures and the Friday My Town Shoot Out. This latter had me stumped for a while since I don't really have a town at home - it's just an uninspiring suburb with little more than my precious library and a row of shops. So what I shall do eventually is show off Merseyside in general. But for the time being I shall join with my Hebridean identity and aim to show off Stornoway and the Isle of Lewis even after I've gone back to Merseyside. I'm hoping I'll have enough photos to fit most categories that people come up with for the foreseeable future.

In the meantime, unless it rains I cannot see me getting a great deal of blogging done. It's too nice out there. Though today, for the first time, I was defeated in my attempts to walk. Not by the midges but by the horse flies. Vicious little creatures. Why can't they stick to horses and leave me alone?

It's half past eight in the evening and not a child in the house washed. (OK so there are no children in the house but you get my drift...)

I notice I have a new follower - welcome to Synflame (and good luck with your exams!). And while on the good luck theme - the same to Bryony and Mark who will be moving into their new home over the next few weeks.

Sunday, 28 June 2009

What is it about pink I dislike so much? Considering I've been married to someone who loves pink for the last twenty odd years I still haven't grown to like it. The moment I open a blog to be greeted by a shock of pink I mentally go yuck though, like Deedee does for her cat, I defend the blogger's right to be who they are and express themselves how they will.

Jame in Philadelphia uses pink but at the moment I'd forgive her anything because she's taught me how to do a really great copyright notice on my photos. The above photo shows my normal copyright notice on the left and an enormous version of the new one on the right. Despite being enormous the one on the right show how much less obtrusive it can be.

I'm not bothered about people using my photos; after all, the internet is about sharing. But I'm vain enough to want the acknowledgement. It is noticeable that people who automatically acknowledge when they use other people's photos are the type of people to ask anyway. I suppose it's just their natural good manners coming out. (Of course, if you are a regular reader you know you have a blanket approval to use any photos you like.) The reason I love the posh version of the copyright notice is because it is unobtrusive but can be large and clear so I can use it on special photos that I might want to use in a competition or something should I ever get around to doing them. If you want to do a copyright notice like Jame's take a look at it and her comment under her brilliant photo of the Stars and Stripes.

One time I'm quite happy to see pink is when God / Mother Nature / Darwin or whoever chooses to use it as in this Ragged Robin flower.

And this clover which, though it's called Red Clover, is really pink.

Little girls can also look pretty in pink and I saw a lovely photo opportunity when GB and I were driving through Grasmere on our way up North a few weeks ago. A couple of teachers and about a dozen girls aged about five - all in different garments but all of them in pink. I decided it was not appropriate to photograph other people's little children and blog a photo of them. So that was a photo opportunity missed. How sad that one has to think of things like that in this day and age.

The above little ones are now old enough for it not to be an issue! The top one is Daughter-who-loves-food and she also appears in the background of the bottom one which has Daughter-who-takes-photos in the foreground.

SunriseLife seems to be getting in the way of blogging at the moment. Which, as certain folk will quickly point out, is better than death getting in the way of it..... The main consolation I can draw from this is that life is giving me many, many photos to post on quieter days. And when the day draws to an end ----

Friday, 26 June 2009

I'm going to be shattered later today. It's 1.15 in the morning and I haven't managed to get any sleep yet. It's hot and I feel as though I'm hyped up on either my drugs or caffeine but I haven't taken any more tablets than usual and not a drop of caffeine has passed my lips for days. Mind you, since I'm wide awake any way I might as well treat myself to a large coffee - would you like to join me? This is what the sky is like at 1.15 in the morning. Brilliant isn't it. The street lights of Upper Bayble across the valley are almost unnecessary when it is as light as this all night.

I know this is a rubbish picture but I just wanted to make Adrian jealous. He was struggling to see what he was photographing on a night expedition down in Derbyshire the other night. Here it would have been so easy. That's not lights in the upstairs windows of the house across the road. That's the reflection of the sky at 1.45 a.m. It's light enough to drive without lights (though, of course, it would be illegal to do so).

And by 3 am one can see the mainland 40 miles away. N the end I got no sleep at all. I'm exhausted and in a bad mood - beware!

I was invited to do a guest posting on Heather's photo blog (she, like me, is not content with one blog!). And since each and every one of you gets a mention in it you may care to pop over there and read it. And, by the way, thank you to Heather for inviting me and to you all for being friends and followers.

About Me and my Blog

Thanks for stopping by! Would you like a cup of tea or coffee? And please, sit for a spell. If you enjoy my posts, please feel free to follow me or subscribe to my blog. This is a word verification free, family friendly blog, so everything I share here is for all ages. I am a happily married man in my late sixties who lives on the Wirral peninsula, near Liverpool, in the UK.

I'm a blogger - and nowadays that seems to be my main occupation. Rambles from My Chair is my main blog. I’m a retired local government executive - now studying how to survive a neurological disorder that gives me various problems but, hopefully, a whole new outlook on life and an increased sense of humour and perspective. There is a saying in Sweden "man måste vara frisk för att orka vara sjuk" ~ "you have to be well to cope with being ill"....

I enjoy most forms of communication and postcards are a special favourite. I used to blog as Scriptor Senex which is Latin for Old Writer but now Google only lets me post as John Edwards.

“He’s not so old. He’s just the age that he is, that’s all.” (Gerald Hammond)